A title that became synonymous with paradoxes almost as soon as it was published. As the world teeters on the brink of catastrophic conflict, perhaps we should be furnishing our fearless leaders with a reading list before they are deemed qualified to take military action: Catch-22 would be near the top of the pile.
A book that needs no narrative to be brilliant. Requires an open mind.
Catch-22 cuts far too close to the bone. I think the feeling of bewilderment and impotence at events that occur far beyond our own spheres of influence is normal, and is captured in a powerful way by Joseph Heller in this book, writing partially from his own experience as an American bomber in World War Two. The narrative follows ‘Yossarian’, an American officer stationed in Italy, who has genuine ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ at his disposal, yet is detached from the human suffering he is inflicting, and seems permanently baffled that the people on the ground beneath him seem desperate to shoot him down.
It is a small leap of imagination to take this sense of detachment and righteous action and implant it into the minds of the American pilots who flew through the night to wreak havoc among remote Iranian mountains last week. Or the scientists on the ground, working feverishly on behalf of a deranged theocracy in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who cannot comprehend why a remote American state would go to such murderous trouble to interfere with their experiments. Heller shows us in lucid detail the instinct for self-preservation which seems doomed to take the place of empathy when humans take the irreversible decision to combat.
I have seen Catch-22 described as a satire, and the ridiculous, imbecilic command structures to which Yossarian and the squadron are subject is no doubt exaggerated. Imagined slights and trivial matters of provisions for the squadron are equal in importance to enormous bombing raids resulting in massive casualties, with inane matters such as the price of eggs coming to dominate morale in the camp. The casual disregard for life from those in charge is shocking, and reflects the superiority complex, with a large dash of the vulturish egotism, that continues to be rewarded in our politics today.
Isn’t this reminiscent of a certain other ‘Supreme Commander’, that takes personal comfort and popularity as a primary objective and governs with a terrifying caprice? The capture of positions of power by persons with little ability or moral character is a key facet of the descent of the international order blurring before our eyes, and would not have surprised Yossarian in the slightest. The acquisition of Trump’s plane in Qatar, to take a recent example, could easily be spun into one of Heller’s tales of facetious commanders neglecting their responsibility to govern sensibly out of naked vanity.
Then there is the syndicate that permeates the life of all the men in Yossarian’s cohort, in which ‘everyone has a share’. Often seen as an allegory for a capitalistic society, the nebulous feeling of flawed ownership can be extrapolated onto the grand military adventure in which the bombers are involved. The men retain a baffled faith in the syndicate, even as it turns its guns on them, and the message rings through to today. Why are we duped into thinking ‘we’ have a stake in a state of affairs over which we have no meaningful control? Would the array of information we have available today prevent us from assessing the morality of conflict objectively? I find it disturbingly simple to impute Yossarian’s impulses and emotions onto our own.
Of course, I cannot finish without looking at ‘Catch-22’ itself, which essentially dictates that any decision which is made is subject to arbitrary review over which you have no control. The bomber squadron live in the perpetual belief that they will be allowed to return to America and avoid the ever-present risk of a gruesome death if they only reach the required number of missions, set centrally by the capricious generals. Every time the pilots come close, the number of missions rise arbitrarily, and men asking to be returned home are remined of the omniscient ‘Catch-22’ which governs their lives.
If you think Orwell just isn’t funny enough, and appreciate the blackest sort of humour, Catch-22 may give you an entertaining perspective on the decisions that now confront our fearless leaders. If you have the news fatigue that is causing you to avoid any mention of current affairs and struggle with irony, you’d be better off not getting bogged down in it.